Year of Saint John Mary Vianney – Page 2

The priest

Bishop William Lori ordained two men to the diaconate today; they’ll be ordained priests next year. Saturday, May 16, the Bishop ordains six men to the priesthood. These are happy days for the diocese of Bridgeport. So, I was thinking about the priesthood and what it means. While there are vast amounts of literature on nature of the priesthood, I thought Saint John Vianney would be an appropriate sounding board for today.

The
priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he
does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for
you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without
priests; they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go
away, you would say, “What can we do in this church? there is no Mass; Our Lord
is not longer there: we may as well pray at home.” When people wish to destroy
religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer
any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice
there is no religion.

Saint
John-Mary Vianney, The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars

Receiving the Eucharist in sin

For some reason–and we can all make our own list as to
why–many Catholics have gotten away from the sacrament of Confession. I know my
own sense of grace and sin sends off an alarm when I receive Holy Communion
with mortal sin on my soul. My conscience gets the best of me as I think of
Saint Paul’s warning that receiving the Eucharistic Lord with sin on the soul: to do so is at one’s own peril. Avoiding Confession is imprudent, that is, not good at
all because one ignores reality, a life with sin squeezes out grace, one ignores the fact of Jesus’ love for me
personally and mercifully and our humanity is reduced. Some theologians and commentators will say that the Eucharist
is forbidden Food if one receives the Eucharistic Lord with mortal sin on the
soul. Saint John-Mary Vianney had strong thoughts about the subject:

“How many have the temerity to approach the holy table
with sins hidden and disguised in confession. How many have not that sorrow
which the good God wants from them, and preserve a secret willingness to fall
back into sin, and do not put forth all their exertions to amend. How many do
not avoid the occasions of sin when they can, or preserve enmity in their
hearts even at the holy table. If you have ever been in these dispositions in
approaching Holy Communion, you have committed a sacrilege. It attacks the
Person of Jesus Christ Himself instead of scorning only His Commandments, like
other mortal sins.” Vianney would also say that receiving Holy Eucharist
with sin on the soul “crucifies Jesus Christ in his heart.”

Those of us who claim to have a conscience would not be
pleased to hear from Saints Paul and John Vianney that by receiving Communion unworthily have
worked out our condemnation. Saint John-Mary Vianney was not a saccharine man, was he?

Pope announces Year of St John Mary Vianney 2009-2010

On the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the death of the Saint Curé of Ars, John Mary Vianney, His Holiness announced this morning that from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010, there will be a special Year of the Priesthood under the theme of “Fidelity of Christ, fidelity of priests.”

During this Jubilee Year Benedict XVI proclaimed Saint John Mary Vianney “Patron of all priests of the world.” He will publish a Directory for Confessors and Spiritual Directors together with a collection of writings of the Supreme Pontiff concerning the essential themes of the life and mission of the priesthood today.

The Congregation for the Clergy together with the diocesan ordinaries and superiors of religious institutes will collaborate in promoting and coordinating the various spiritual and pastoral initiatives that concern the importance of the life and mission of the spriest in the Church and in contemporary society, the necessity of competent permanent formation of priests and seminarians.

The Pope will opens the special Year on 19 June with Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica where the relics of the saintly ‘Cure of Ars’ will be brought by Bishop Guy Bagnard of Belley-Ars, France. The pope will conclude the year on 19 June 2010, presiding at a “World Meeting of Priests” in St. Peter’s Square.

A video clip of the announcement from H2O News.